


The Death of Donna Noble

by Amjead



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Old Donna, Sad fic with positive ending, sad fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 09:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2617220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amjead/pseuds/Amjead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor visits Donna one last time</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Death of Donna Noble

**Author's Note:**

> So, I came up with a head cannon of how Donna died. I liked it so much that I decided to fic it. Feel free to follow me on Tumblr at followallthefandoms or Twitter at Amjead

Nurse Nadine Dutton was sitting at the welcome desk at The Maryville Care Home when a man approached her.

“Hello,” he said. “I'm looking for Donna Noble. Do you think you could tell me what room she's in?”

Nadine paused to think for a moment. There was no one by that name in this nursing home. Suddenly, it hit her.

“You must mean Donna Temple,” said Nadine. “Noble's her maiden name. She's on the fourth floor. You'll just have to sign in and I'll take you up there myself.” 

“Thank you,” he said graciously as Nadine slid the sign in book towards him.

As the man signed in, Nadine asked him, “How do you know Mrs. Temple?”

“She's an old friend,” he said. “Donna and I go way back.”

“That's nice,” said Nadine. “I'm sure she'll be happy to see you.” The man gave Nadine the sign-in book back. She looked where he signed his name and said, “Ok, Mr. Smith. You're all ready to go.”

Nadine took him into the lift and pushed the button for the fourth floor.

They rode up in silence, but then Nadine said, “I feel I should warn you that Mrs. Temple isn't always the most lucid or the most friendly.” The man didn't say anything.

“Are you all right?” Nadine asked.

“I'm fine,” said the man as his voice broke slightly. “I just don't do terribly well with nursing homes.”

“That's very normal,” Nadine said. “Nursing homes often force us to think about our own mortality. It's not an easy subject to dwell on.”

“It's not _my_ mortality that bothers me,” said Mr. Smith. Nadine was going to ask him what he meant, but the lift's bell rang for the fourth floor.

Nadine lead him over to room 4213.

Nadine gently knocked on the door and called in, “Mrs. Temple, you have a visitor. May he come in?”

A mildly brash voice replied with, “Nadine, how many times to I have to tell you? Call me Donna. Mrs. Temple makes me feel like an old bat. Yeah. I guess I'll take a visitor today.”

“I'll leave you two to get reacquainted,” said Nadine to the man. With that, she left. Mr. Smith took a deep breath an entered the room. He was not quite prepared for the sight before him.

He knew that the old woman that laid in bed was the Donna Noble he knew, but she was definitely different now. Her red hair had turned gray and her body was covered in wrinkles. He wanted to run out of the room, but then he saw her eyes. After all these years, and her eyes were still the same. That made him feel a bit calmer.

“Who are you?” said Donna. Hearing her ask that broke both of The Doctor's hearts.

“I'm just a friend,” said The Doctor.

“I don't remember you,” said Donna. “Granted, I don't remember too much these days. Do you know how old I am?” The Doctor shrugged. “I'm 94 years old,” she responded. “I absolutely cannot believe that I let myself be 94 years old. I entirely loathe being this age and this spotty memory is for the birds.”

Donna spoke the same way The Doctor remembered, but he didn't like what she was saying. He needed to change the subject.

“I'll have to play catch up,” said The Doctor. “Tell me about things that have happened in your life. Did you ever have any kids?”

“No,” answered Donna. “After I got married, I always felt that I was too old to have kids. Shaun, my husband, he agreed with me. It's kind of a shame though. Maybe if I had kids, someone could come and visit me.”

“Doesn't Shaun visit?” asked The Doctor.

“He's been dead for seven years,” said Donna. The Doctor immediately regretted asking.

“I knew I should've done some more research to know what's been going on with her,” thought The Doctor. “I'm sorry,” he said. “That was a stupid question.”

“It's not stupid,” said Donna. “You wanted to know what's been happening. Now you know. Nothing's happening. I know it seems like I've done nothing but complain, but you have to see where I'm coming from. I remember so little. Anyone I do remember is gone. I've got nothing left.”

Tears started to well up in Donna's eyes. This was too much for The Doctor to take. He had only seen Donna cry once before. It still haunted him. After only a moment though, Donna was blotting her eyes.

“Look at me,” said Donna. “I'm crying like a bloody infant. Believe me, I am happy to see you. I just wish I could remember who you were. Tell me about yourself. Maybe that will spark something. What do you do?”

“I'm a doctor,” said The Doctor.

“A doctor?” Donna repeated with a smile. “That's great. Maybe you can fix me up.” She gently laughed and The Doctor took this as a good sign. He pulled up a chair next to Donna's bed and sat down.

“Fixing you up is exactly why I came,” said The Doctor. “I had heard that you were sick and alone. I could hardly believe it when I heard how old you were. 'Not my Donna,' I thought. 'My Donna's not old and sick. That's impossible.'”

“It's possible,” said Donna. “Wait a minute. Who told you all of this?”

“I have my ways of finding things out,” said The Doctor. “A little blue bird told me. Anyway, I'd like to cheer you up with a story.”

“A story?” Donna asked dubiously.

“Yes,” said The Doctor. “I want to tell you a story about a friend of mine. She was the savior of the universe.”

The Doctor told Donna his story. It took a while to tell and sometimes The Doctor even thought about stopping, but he didn't. The Doctor told Donna his story until it was all done and he was nearly hoarse from speaking so much.

When The Doctor was done, Donna said, “You're friend sounds amazing. I wish I could have done something great like that in my life.”

The Doctor took a deep breath and said, “You did.” Donna made a face like she was confused. She didn't understand what he was talking about.

“What do you mean?” Donna asked.

The Doctor took Donna's hand in his and said, “Donna Noble, I'd like to give you your memories back.”

The Doctor and Donna's clasped hands started to glow. Donna shut her eyes tightly and her mouth dropped open as if she'd just had a great shock.

Tears started streaming down Donna's face and she gasped out, “I remember.” She opened her eyes and said, “Doctor, I remember everything.” She laughed with glee, but then she became very serious. “I remember everything,” she repeated somberly. The Doctor knew exactly what she was remembering. “I'm going to die, aren't I,” she said. 

“I'm sorry,” The Doctor said as he nodded sadly. Donna looked around her nursing home room.

“Thank you,” said Donna.

“Don't thank me,” said The Doctor. “The TARDIS informed me of your situation. It told me that you were alone and dying. I thought the least I can do is give you your memories back and release you from all of this. You're a very dear friend to me, Donna. I love you.”

“Oi, watch it, spaceman,” Donna said with a smile. The Doctor smiled back at her and she said, “I love you too. Thanks for this.” With that, she closed her eyes and The Doctor left without anyone seeing him go. Since then, the nurses and doctors would often recall how they found Donna with the biggest smile they had ever seen.


End file.
